Dr. John Shefelbine developed the content and methods for the SIPPS program over several years in the 1980s and 1990s. SIPPS Beginning and Extension Levels were piloted over two years at an elementary school in northern California. SIPPS Challenge Level was field-tested at two northern California schools.
Scholastic, Inc. and Developmental Studies Center (the former name of Center for the Collaborative Classroom) co-published the first edition of SIPPS in 2000. Collaborative Classroom published the Second Edition of SIPPS Beginning, SIPPS Extension, and SIPPS Challenge. SIPPS Extension and Challenge were co-authored by Katherine K. Newman. Shortly after that, Collaborative Classroom published SIPPS Plus, written by both John Shefelbine and Katherine K. Newman. SIPPS was updated to a Third Edition in 2013, the Intensive Multisensory Instruction component was added in 2018, the Fourth Edition was published in 2020, and the Fifth Edition was published in 2025.